Industry, Agencies Ponder Program’s Future Under New Administration

By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio

Representatives of industry, American Indian tribes, government and environmental groups took part in a water summit in northern Wisconsin over the weekend to discuss the future of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative under a new White House administration. Congress has invested around $2 billion in projects to clean up the lakes through the GLRI in the last six years.

The initiative grew out of an effort by President Barack Obama’s administration to speed up Great Lakes restoration in 2010. The federal program has funded more than 2,500 projects by hundreds of groups. But, there’s no law authorizing federal funds year after year, and Obama has proposed cuts in recent years. Presidential nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have pledged support for the program, but questions remain over funding and the focus of the initiative. Read the full story.